Urbanization in Brazil, that is, the growth of cities in relation to the rural space, has followed in the history of our country since the colonial period, with most of the large urban formations located in coastal areas, something that is still reflected at the moment. Initially, these cities had specific economic functions, aimed at managing agricultural production directed at the Portuguese crown. Among these cities, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Salvador (BA), Recife (PE) and others stood out.
Over time, the process of urbanization Brazil happened motivated by other economic practices. In the eighteenth century, for example, large cities emerged in some locations influenced by the practice of mining, which was very strong in the country at that time. This was the case in cities such as Cuiabá (MT), Vila Rica (MG), Goiás (GO), Lages (SC), among many others. The coffee economy, in the 19th century, also contributed in the same direction, with the substantial increase in several cities, mainly in the Southeast region, such as São Paulo (SP).
However, when we talk about Brazilian urbanization in a more intense and complete way, we are referring to the 20th century, when Brazil was gradually moving from being a predominantly rural country to becoming mostly urban. We can say that the main factor responsible for this was the growth of industrialization, as construction and growth of industries generated more jobs in cities and attracted a greater number of people to these spaces.
In addition, throughout this century, industrial activity also contributed to the mechanization of the countryside, with the introduction of increasingly modern machinery that replaced, in part, the labor of workers in the environment rural. This process, associated with the high concentration of land, contributed to increase the migration of the population from the countryside to the cities, a phenomenon called rural exodus, which intensified in Brazil from the 1950s onwards. Look at the chart below:
Graph explaining the evolution of urbanization in Brazil.
The big issue is that urbanization in Brazil has caused two main problems: it has been concentrated and accelerated. Most of the urbanization process took place in large cities in the Southeast region, mainly São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. Not by chance, this is the most populated region in the country. In addition, everything took place in just a few decades, so the infrastructure of these cities did not keep up with such evolution, with many peripheral areas, urban swelling, the formation of slums and tenements, among other problems, with a good part of the poor population living in conditions precarious.
Another consequence of Brazil's rapid urbanization was the formation of large metropolises - cities with an advance complex economic – and metropolitan regions, which now integrate a large number of cities in the same space urban. The metropolitan region of São Paulo, for example, involves 39 municipalities and is home to more than 20 million people, a number of inhabitants greater than that of several Brazilian states and even of some regions.
